Winning Titles
by Positive-Chan
Summary: Ryoma and Xander, the school's biggest rivals are fighting for the title of Student President, and Elise who just so happens to be best friends with Sakura, also loves her big brother, Xander. But when Elise begins to realize her infatuation of her best friend's older brother, Ryoma isn't just a random crush, is torn in between. And staying neutral isn't an option...
1. Chapter 1

**Heyyy! Um, I've sorta been in Fire Emblem Fates hell since November and I haven't stopped. So I figured that it was time to make some fanfictions! ;3 Although I have barely anytime to update due to family matters, I want to keep trying. So I'll try adding little snipits of the story every now and then. Chapters will likely be pretty short, but I hope its okay!**

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Elise giddily bounced down the crowded hallways with her meek best friend calmly by her side. She was utterly excited today, Xander had agreed to let her help him with handing out flyers later that day, and the final bell of the bell just rang. Sakura smiled warmly at Elise's happiness, the two girls' brothers were fighting to win the title of Student President who were also rivals in everything they did. Yet, although having their brothers hate each other, the two younger sisters were best friends. Sakura wanted to help out Elise as well since they were both neutral and helped both parties in the endless bickering, but she was already late for her flower arrangement club so she sped up her pace.

"E-Elise, I have to go on to Flower Arranging, I'll try to help out another time. I'm sorry..." Sakura frowned realizing how late she was.

Elise nodded, "Don't be sorry, it's not your fault! Now hurry! Before you get anymore late!" Elise replied worriedly, she'd be guilty for the rest of the day if she got Sakura in trouble. She was so sweet that it was impossible to hate her.

"See you tomorrow then!" Sakura panted as she ran the other way, waving her best friend goodbye as she headed to the club.

Elise smiled, waving back to her friend as she continued walking down the hall. She hummed to herself softly, she'd never seen this 'Ryoma' that Xander talked about. He always seemed to be badmouthing Sakura's brother and made him seem like a bad person. But she knew Xander exaggerates sometimes when he dislikes someone. She wondered what he was like, apparently he's in the kendo club that Ms. Reina runs and he's also pretty high up there in the student council too just like her own brother. Xander did sports too, but not as much, he was more into literature and dusty old textbooks older than your grandma. Xander was head of the football team and book club, but he calls it the 'Literature Appreciation Association' which is just something fancy to spruce up the name. But she'd seen Ryoma's name on the trophy display far more than her brother's. He was the captain of the baseball, kendo, and swimming team but this 'Ryoma' was also smart too, he won all these awards and stuff from teachers liking him. Ryoma and Xander were on par with everything they did.

Elise shuddered as she remembered that one time when Xander and Ryoma got into a full on brawl during gym, although being a lot less athletic, Xander could still hold up a fight with Ryoma. She remembered her father having to go to school to be talked to by the principal.

That day, when Xander came home, he was covered in bruises, had a sprained wrist, and was bleeding all over his face. Apparently Xander hit Ryoma pretty hard too according to Sakura when she saw Ryoma come home. She said Ryoma look like he got attacked by a monster or something but he was seething with anger.

But Elise put that all in the back of her mind as she stood in front of the Student Council door, bursting in she smiled, "I'm here!"

But the room was empty, the jubilant girl pouted, welp, that was awkward, but she found a stack of papers on the desk where her brother sat. Picking it up, she nodded as she saw her brother's name on them, promoting his campaign. She set her backpack down in an empty desk and straightened her blouse that got pushed up from her backpack and jumping.

"Alright! Now to pass these out and get some work done!" Elise giggled giddily, opening the door and handing out flyers to anyone she saw. Her cuteness helped spread the papers faster than expected, except for one person...

"Xander for Student President! He's the best! Take a flyer for voting information!" Elise shouted, waving the papers up in the air until she saw a boy with long ash colored hair walk by with a dark grimace on his face. "Here! Take one!" Elise said warmly, thrusting a paper into his face.

The boy scowled, "Ugh, that's a no. I'm voting for Ryoma, not that dork. I don't want your paper." Elise felt her joy shrivel up for a moment.

"Ryoma? Him?"

"You're spouting nonsense against him but you don't even know what he stands for. How annoying." he hissed, but whipped out a paper from his binder, pushing it all up in her face just like she had with the flyer she tired to give him moments ago. "This guy," he pointed, proud of who he was voting for, "that's Ryoma."

Elise blinked, trying to get a good view of the image of Ryoma, but it was definitely hard with all of the boy's thrashing arm as he tried to make his point. Suddenly, he put it back in his bag and walked away briskly. The girl sighed, sometimes people were just jerks like that. But she was curious as to how Ryoma looked, so putting her papers down, she ventured down the hallway to where the boy was, looking for any papers from Ryoma.

But in the distance, her entire mood lit up as she saw her brother down the hall, pulling off some papers and posting up his own. "Xander!" Elise chimed, running down the hall to meet her older brother who smiled softly back to her.

"Elise, I was down here taking down some flyers, sorry I didn't go see you." Xander spoke, but his eyes never met hers as he was focused on the task of pasting his flyers up.

"No worries, I finished handing out of most of the flyers you set on the table. I'm just taking a break." Elise smiled, but paid close attention to what her brother was busying himself with. She watched with wondering eyes. Xander practically ripped off some red flyers off the concrete walls with annoyance before plastering flyers for his campaign.

She stared at the heap of red flyers on the floor before picking up one from the pile. She looked at the picture of the man in the center of the page, above it was his name, Ryoma. "Huh... so this is Ryoma," she said to herself as she observed his features, blocking out Xander's rambling.

Ryoma had long brown hair and was really built, his jaw was sharp and so was his features. His face was serious and strong, but she could feel warmth behind them even in a piece of paper. His hair flowed back prettily like a river and he looked really cool, dare she say it, cooler than her own brother. "...that muzzling mutt, he doesn't deserve..." Xander grumbled as he put up more flyers. "Could you go throw those in the trash where they belong?"

"Kinda cute..." Elise whispered to herself softly.

Xander's neck snapped her way, "What?", his voice sharp, wondering if he heard her correctly.

"Nothing!" Elise smiled, picking up more papers from the ground. She wondered if Xander knew that Sakura and her put up those flyers during lunch. Making her way back down the hall, Elise tossed the papers into the recycling bin by the corner before going back to the papers she was handing out before. But they were gone, she pouted but then smiled, _If they're gone, someone must've taken them! That's good! Well it's getting pretty dark now though... I'll have to catch the late bus if I want to finish my homework._ So the peppy girl looked into the Student Council room to get her backpack and walked right on in. But she froze as she saw someone in the dark in the corner of the classroom with a long ponytail. His hair was long and busy but out of his face as he was writing down something by the window in the room. He looked up surprised as his reading glasses tilted down to reveal his eyes.

"May I help you?"

Elise blinked, it was Ryoma, he was definitely a lot better looking in person rather than in the photo. Her chest was tight as she opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. Ryoma was surprising really good looking, it made her face burn red a bit.

"Is something the matter? Are you lost? I haven't seen you before in this school." clarified Ryoma, getting up to help her, thinking she was a newcomer lost in the endless maze of their school.

"Oh... um... this is the Student Council room right?"

Ryoma nodded, a slight smile on his lips, "Yes, did you need something?"

He was close now, really close. Well maybe for her, but he was huge and tall, a lot like Xander but a lot more muscular. He was wearing a red varsity jacket decorated with his name and number from baseball. But the man loomed over her, with a questioning look in his eyes as to why she was so utterly speechless.

"I just needed to get my backpack, that's all! Sorry about that!" Elise smiled, stepping behind him to grab her backpack. He nodded and smiled gently once more. But Elise could feel her heart racing though, _Woah, he actually smiles and shows emotion somewhat unlike Xander. I can sorta understand why people would vote for him._

"You're Sakura's brother right?" Elise asked, trying to muster the courage to not sound like an absolute child.

Ryoma nodded, "Yes, do you know her?"

"Yeah! She's my best friend! You're both really nice so it makes sense." Elise chimed. _Wait, I just accidently sorta flirted with him! No! That's so embarrassing... I didn't even know him for five minutes and now I'm...! Yeah he's good looking but he's Sakura's brother! My best friend!_

"I'm glad, it's hard for her to make friends since she isn't very good at speaking with others. I hope you two stay that way. If I'm correct, you're Elise? It's nice to meet you." said the man as he opened the door for her. Elise's heart lurched in her chest, she wanted so badly to tell him she was Xander's sister for some reason but she didn't have the will to say it.

"Oh thank you," Elise replied as she exited the door, "But yes, I'm Elise! See you around!" she waved as she walked towards the buses. But her heart raced, _Oh man... he's super nice, Sakura's lucky to have a brother like him. I shouldn't think about it... but he's really good looking... He probably already has a girlfriend though, like look at him! Whoever he's with is super duper ultra lucky now that I think about it._

But a certain pink haired girl, knocked her out of her thoughts, "Elise, did you have fun after school?" smiled Sakura, the same one she and her brother share.

Elise grinned, "Sure did!" She hopped up the stairs of the bus, and sat in a seat with Sakura, "You've got a really nice brother though, ya know? Xander is always so uptight all the time, I sorta wonder if he has a stick up his butt all day!"

The girls laughed, "Yeah, Ryoma is really nice, I'm glad he's not super mean or scary. I sometimes feel bad for Kaze." Sakura added. "Oh! Elise, you have to get off! The bus is going to start moving again!" Sakura gasped.

Elise looked out the window to see her house slowly vanish from view, "Ah! No! Stop the bus!" Elise yelped, jumping over Sakura to get off the bus, "See you Sakura!" she called out to her friend who waved back warmly.

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 **(A/N)**

 **Phew! That took me a while, I'm really rusty since I haven't written anything in a while but remembering all the details of a story in your head is hard while you're writing it -_- But I'll try to update every now and then, so it might be drabbles from time to time, but not always since I'm not really a drabble person. Hope you guys enjoyed! Until next chapter!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Yeah, this update took me a ton longer than it should have since I originally had a 5,000 plus word chapter, but of course I just had to lose my connection to the internet as I saved. So I decided to just redo the entire thing. Sorry about that to those who were excited for more. Anyways, back to the story!**

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Elise huffed out into a field to sit in the grass and eat her lunch. The teachers allowed the students to eat outside since the weather was so nice, but there was no one to enjoy it with. Sakura had dropped a lunch from her schedule to do an art class since she wanted art to be a minor when she started college. So when Elise turned to her other two close friends she usually sits with at lunch, Effie and Arthur, the two of them were out of state to go to a state competition for track and field that the school was going to. So Elise trudged up a slightly steep hill with her lunch tote in hand. Usually, she'd sit down at the tables where everyone else sat, but she decided to make some flower crowns while she ate so it wouldn't be as boring.

Elise frowned, although being a pretty small hill, the ground was super steep and it was difficult to walk all the way with some clunky boots. But as the reached the top, a gleeful smile reached her face instantly, an entire field of golden flowers laid awaiting for her. Elise quickly ran over to find some good flowers, but when she went a little further, she saw someone else out in the field.

"Woah, who's that? I guess I wan't the first one here, aww..." pouted the girl as she set down her tote and rubbed her eyes trying to see who that person was. "Oh..." Elise puffed, she recognized the attire, the person was decked out in heavy football gear. Welp, there went her peaceful idea to make some pretty flower crowns. All of these pretty flowers were going to get ruined too! Elise felt her face sag, man, she couldn't make flower crowns which was okay, but she hated the fact that all these pretty flowers weren't going to get trampled and destroyed. And they were NOT weeds!

But she sighed and figured she'd stand her ground and make some crowns, afterall Sakura looked really cute with them on, far better than she did. Taking a bite of her sandwich and setting it down, Elise scavenged for the perfect flowers. But she noticed the figure she couldn't really quite identify earlier, approach her. The cheery girl squinted and held her hand up to cover the sun for a better look, but the voice of the person echoed before she could see who it was again.

"Hello, Elise is it?" asked the low voice, confirming if it was her name or not. The figure was right in front of her now and blocked the sun from behind giving Elise a clear view of who was standing before her.

Elise blinked, "Hm? But yeah! I'm Elise! Didn't expect to see you out here Ryoma."

"Actually, I'm supposed to be here, I'm waiting for my team to finish in the locker rooms. It's quite unexpected seeing you actually. You have lunch this period do you not?" Ryoma responded to the pig tailed, pint sized, ball of happiness.

"Yup, I'm just making some flower crowns to pass the time up here. The flowers are nice around here."

"Aren't these only weeds though?" politely questioned Ryoma.

Elise grumbled, "They are NOT weeds, they are flowers, so what if they aren't the prettiest, but they're certainly not weeds." She despised people calling dandelions weeds even though they really were. Calling them weeds really irked her.

"O-Oh," Ryoma nodded awkwardly, taken aback from her short outburst, "But you're making flower crowns? Whom for?"

Ryoma sure did talk weirdly, sorta like an old guy, but not like an old guy at the same time. "No one in particular. They'd probably wilt by next period so I might as well make them while I can. Want to see how to make them?" Elise piped.

"I'm not sure if I have the ti-" Ryoma started, but Elise grabbed his hand and pulled him onto the ground with her, crossing her legs 'criss-cross-applesauce' like how she'd like to say,handing him a bushel of golden dandelions.

"Come on! It's fun once you get the hang of it!" Elise grinned, and immediately started weaving the stems of the flowers in and out, crossing them and tying them tightly. But she looked up seeing the bewildered face of Ryoma, "You don't know how to make 'em huh?"

"It's fine, I should start warming up anyways..." Ryoma stated, getting up.

"No way." Elise pouted, puffing out her cheeks, "Come on, that's no real way to face a challenge! If you don't know something, you just gotta learn how. Here, come closer, I'll show you how."

Ryoma nodded, he was always ready for a challenge, and he never ran away from a single one. Sitting back down, he watched the girl intently. Her small fingers petite as can be, slipped through the vines and pulled, weaving more and more, until she was finally left with a tight and pretty flower crown. "You like yellow right?" Elise asked.

The man nodded, "Then here!" Elise giggled, she got onto her knees and waddled over to him and placed the golden crown on his head. Ryoma closed his eyes so he wouldn't be staring at her chest as she stretched her arms over him to reach his head. "I hereby announce you king!" giggled the girl, "Hey, you look pretty good with a crown on too! Man, when I wear mine it sorta blends into my hair and looks kinda funky."

Ryoma blinked, but smiled, his hands slowly going up to his head to feel the light crown the dainty girl made and bestowed him with. His large hand grazed over it and he could feel the tight knots Elise hooked together and the soft flowers he had once called weeds. But he looked at the bushel of flowers that laid in his giant hands, slowly mimicking Elise, Ryoma tied one flower to another. "Like this?" Ryoma asked quietly, coming to a halt wondering what to do.

"Oh no, like this, and you don't have to be too scared of ripping the stems. But have a little caution. Kinda like holding a piece of paper or glass." Elise hummed and reached over and moved his hands in the right direction. Ryoma nodded, her hands were so tiny and small compared to his giant large hands. Trying again with her advice, Ryoma tied and weaved over and over and then he did it. Elise giggled as she saw his eyes sparkle as a spark of excitement flared in him as he made his first crown, it was cute, and even almost childlike and innocent.

A warm smile made it's way to her face as she faced Ryoma who had the same. It was surprising how little things like this just make someone's day. Edging closer to Elise, Ryoma placed the beginner's crown on her head, "Crafted with the goldenest dandelions, this crown meant for Elise crowns her as Princess Elise." His warm hands laid the bright golden crown on her head, as he pulled them away they brushed against her cheek by accident, but that was enough to make her heart thump. Elise smiled, and curtsied to the man in front of her, who in turn gave a deep gentlemen's bow to her.

"Spending time like this..." Ryoma started, Elise looked up at him with a curious face, his voice softened in turn, "You remind me of simpler times."

Elise felt his gaze fall onto her and a sudden urge to say something was thrown ontop of her, "Well... Ryoma... you sorta remind me of like...a giant teddy bear."

Ryoma cringed slightly but Elise continued, waving her hands up, "N-No! Not like in a mean way! But like... you're really big and you look pretty tough but then you're really nice to people you care about like Sakura. It's comforting to see you."

He nodded and watched Elise's hand clutch a flower stem and pluck it from the earth. Yet, the stem was oddly long, and after Elise had pulled it out of the ground, part of the stem was still on the ground and still moving. Wait... And then, with a sudden shift of a cloud overhead, Ryoma's eyes widened in horror, a beam of sun came down onto the grass and what was thought as the stem had scales.

"Elise!" Ryoma shouted, the girl tried with all her might to move but Elise paled as she stared at the slithering snake crawl onto her lap, leaving her frozen and powerless.

"R-R-Ry..." Elise gasped, the words caught in her throat.

Ryoma was left with no choice, he grabbed her wrists and started running. Elise was practically being dragged behind him and panting to keep up. If it worked, the snake would've been shaken off of her during the run.

"R-Ryoma!" Elise screamed, her voice was shaking.

The man turned to her and his eyes widened once more, but not at the sight of a dark green snake slithering up Elise's arm, but the horrified expression on her face. Tears were swelling and threatening to spill, lip trembling, and terrified eyes that spoke so many emotions that it almost overwhelmed him.

Holding his breath, Ryoma clutched the snake and ripped it off Elise's arm.

'Tssss!' hissed the snake, spitting everywhere. Elise yelped as she felt a sharp sting on her arm but quickly ran behind Ryoma and clinging onto him from hysteria and panic.

He was ready to throw the snake onto the road out of sheer anger and adrenaline, but Elise screeched, "Stop! Don't kill it!" Ryoma looked at her stunned, his hands locked on the snake, "Please don't! It has a life too! Let me do it! He must be scared! I won't let my fear control my emotions!"

Elise shakily reached out to the snake, Ryoma's eyes softened, for being so scared she was acting brave. "No, I'll do it. Just answer me, are you hurt?"

"Uh..." Elise looked around herself, she hesitated as she saw the blood trickling down her arm, "Yeah I'm good."

"Elise, bravery and foolishness are two close things, I'll walk you down to the nurse." Ryoma frowned, observing her arm after setting the wild snake away from the school grounds.

"Y-Yeah... but it's fine! It's just a garden snake, they don't have any venom! It's a-okay!" Elise smiled.

"Yes, but we want to be exactly sure."

"Ryoma."

"Hmm?"

"Is that your team? They're kinda staring."

Ryoma turned around to see the football team watching cheekily. The tall man sent a glare as the athletes started hysterically laughing at the sight of their stoic leader adorning a beautiful flower crown. "Five laps!" he shouted, earning a loud groan from the boys who grumpily ran around the soccer field.

Elise giggled, "It's alright! If they make fun of you, they'll receive my special uppercut! Heh! I've been working hard on that." sticking her tongue out playfully, Ryoma really couldn't help but smile.

Elise felt her face flush, she wasn't sure if he noticed but she was doing a pretty good job of pushing the thought of liking Ryoma in that way to the back of her mind but it was futile now. "...cute" she murmured softly, the words rolling off her lips.

"What did you say? Sorry I didn't catch that." Ryoma asked, Elise felt her face redden even more.

"Oh nothing!" she laughed nervously, "Good luck at practice! If you want, I can make flower crowns for everyone!"

Ryoma chuckled, "Alright, have a good day Elise." he waved calmly to her.

Elise beamed, a bright smile that could blind a person, but Camilla warned her about showing it to boys. She didn't really understand why, but she waved, back at the man who hesitated at the sight of her wall destroying smile, "See you around Ryoma!"

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 **(A/N)**

 **Yeah, this was originally super different, I might make it a later chapter, but for now I have another idea for the next chapter in my head. Hope you guys enjoyed! ;3**


	3. Chapter 3

Elise grinned, she was excited beyond belief. For what reason? Well, it was her first time going to a sleep over in a _long_ time. Last time she even could recall was years ago, so it honestly really did feel like her first sleepover. With her classic beaming smile that practically shone like a lighthouse, Elise shimmied her socks up her feet, stuffed them into the nearest pair of shoes, and called out to her older sister.

"Camilla! I'm heading out to Sakura's place!" Shouted the gleeful teen as she shoved the part of her pillow that stuck out of her duffle bag back in.

The purple haired beauty blinked, poking her head out from the kitchen, "Today? Do you want me to drop you off? I've got time on my hands before I head out to work."

Elise shook her head after she took a glance outside, "Nah, I can ride my bike right on over to Sakura's! It's really nice outside."

"You know how to ride a bike?"

"Of course I do Leo!" Elise spat at her brother who walked down the stairs, questioning her with a mocking a tone. "I've known for quite some time actually." Elise puffed, placing her hands on her waist as she did so.

Camilla walked over with a comb still going through her hair, "What time will you be back? I don't want you coming back at the dead of night or when it's dark out."

Elise shook her head, "No, I'll be coming back tomorrow morning. It's a sleepover remember?"

"Oh! I completely forgot about that! Should Xander come by then? I'll be working from six to four tomorrow Elise." Camilla hummed, thinking on what to do.

A gasp escaped Elise's lips, "Eek! No way! Xander would kill me if he found out I hung out with Ryoma's little sister. Ugh... just because he hates Ryoma's guts doesn't mean I can't hang out with Sakura. It's so unfair!"

"You know Xander is upstairs right?" Leo mumbled, his nose in a book as per usual.

Elise sighed as she pushed the stay hairs of her pigtails away from her face, "Hopefully Xander didn't hear anything..."

"Hear what?" Xander inquired, stepping down the stairs, clad in his soccer jersey and cleats.

"I... um..." Elise panicked, but Leo quickly filled in.

"That Elise fell down the stairs at school the other day." Grumbled the other brother, finally looking up from his book for the first time during their entire conversation.

"Elise are you alright?!" Xander asked worriedly, quickly hurrying down the rest of the stairs to his sister.

Elise laughed awkwardly, swatting her brother away, man she really was bad at lying, "Yeah I'm fine Xander, there's no need to freak out." Xander hesitated before nodding. "Well, I'm heading out to my friends house. I'll see you guys at..." the girl checked her text messages once more where Sakura and her decided on the times, "... at 2 p.m tomorrow!"

Camilla waved to the girl who stepped out of the house, "Stay safe! And drink some water before you go so you won't get any leg cramps!"

"Nah, I'm good. See you guys!" Elise smiled as she kicked the stand up on her bike before hopping on. She was lucky that Sakura lived pretty close by since most of their town was quite spread apart. The girl's house was only a few blocks away so it wasn't that close either but close enough to ride a bike to. Elise hummed softly, but she frowned as she felt the bike rattle from under her. It was quite a while since she rode it, Elise wasn't an outdoorsy person per say. Peddling a bit faster, Elise steadily rode her bike, looking for the house that Sakura described as her own.

"Brick house with three cars out front on Bakuya street... Bakuya street... Wait, oh crud I missed it!" Elise squeaked, abruptly turning her bike, but a sudden snap caught her attention. But paying no mind, the girl continued onwards, peddling down the street on which Sakura and Ryoma lived on. Seeing the house, a spark of excitement filled the girl, peddling and speeding over as fast as she possibly could. Elise thought she'd be able to stop the bike soundly, but what she received was the complete and utter opposite.

First, Elise attempted to use the brakes on her bike... but remember that loud snap earlier? Yeah... her brakes broke at the worst possible time. "Wha-? No no no no!" Elise panicked, setting her feet down to slow her bike. However, she made the grave mistake of taking her eyes off the side walk when she looked down to place her feet. And... well... Of course her front tire just had to hit a light pole at full speed and force, throwing Elise off her bike and tumbling into a mail box head first with a loud thud. The rough pavement scraped her leg and arms as Elise was launched onto it. But when her head banged into mailbox, it was louder than a gunshot possibly. Elise blinked, before the sharp pain set in "Owww! You've got to be kidding me!" She rubbed her head achingly and flopped back into the grass to catch her breath before she looked up and then her jaw dropped. Great, just great, of course she just had to not see the person she almost collided head first as they got their mail. His long silver gray hair went down his back as a scowl was made even more apparent but his grumble.

Elise felt her face burn red out of sheer embarrassment, "A-Ah! I'm sorry! I was looking for 10 Bakuya street! Did I hurt you?!" Stammered the girl, trying to get up with all her might, but falling back down which further added to her building embarrassment.

"Why are _you_ ** _here_?" ** Asked the boy, his eyes slimmed down on her, not even answering her question. Elise blinked, it was that kid, the one who threw the flyer in her face the other day in school. Well, this was certainly, positively, and definitely not going to end well.

"Ack! I... I um..." Elise mumbled, her words an incoherent jumble as she hurried them out, but also looking for an excuse to run away as fast as she could. But her eyes caught the sight of Ryoma at the front door.

Elise's eyes widened, as Ryoma quickly hurried down the driveway to help her, "That was quite the entrance, but never mind that, are you alright, Elise? And Takumi, you should've at least helped her." Ryoma sighed, offering a hand to help Elise.

Elise nodded, "Y-Yeah" Despite the blood seeping out from the large scrape she got earlier, she was pretty good in her opinion. Ryoma bent down to help her up after he lended her a hand to hold onto. By now, Elise wasn't sure if she was beet red from embarrassment or from holding Ryoma's hand. He was warm and big, he really was like a giant bear now that she thought about it.

"You know _her?_ " The boy asked, his eyes wide as he watched his brother help up Elise.

Ryoma hoisted Elise up rather quickly which startled Elise but she didn't really mind. Ryoma cleared his throat, "Yes brother, is there any reason why I should not anyways?" his voice hinted at his annoyance.

"B-Brothers?!" Elise stuttered, the glittering purple eyes she held gazed over the two of their faces, observing their features. And now that she looked at them rather intently, the two of them an uncanny resemblance. She knew Sakura had a brother and sister, but not another brother! "You two are siblings?!"

The two boys looked back at each other, awkward about all of it, so Ryoma spoke up. "Yes, sorry I must've forgot to tell you along with Sakura."

The boy who Elise assumed was pretty sure named Takumi whipped his head in the other direction. She watched him confused as his face became dark like some sort of storm. And yet before Elise could ask if he was okay, she heard a gasp from the door that could only belong to one person.

"E-Elise! Are you okay?!" Sakura sniffed, running down the steps faster than Elise ever seen.

Elise blinked, "H-Huh? Oh yeah, I'm okay. The scratch on my leg stings pretty badly though."

Sakura's eyes shifted down to her friend's knee and widened to the size of saucers, "Oh my gosh Elise! Y-You can get infected!" grabbing her hand, Sakura dashed back into the house, completely leaving her brothers out of sheer worry. "I-I'm sorry! I should've gone to you're house instead! This is all my fault!"

Elise stumbled as she walked, who knew Sakura could be so darn fast? She probably got it from Hinoka or Ryoma. But Elise quickly cut Sakura off, "Of course not Sakura! It's just my brakes broke and through me off, that's all."

The pinkette hesitated before nodding softly, yet her grip on Elise hadn't eased in the slightest, dragging her upstairs and seating her on the edge of her bed. "Wait here, I need to go get my medical kit."

"Alright. But it's not such a big deal it's just a bit of blood..." Elise protested, but Sakura was already out of the her room looking for her medical kit. She sighed, _This is the first time I've ever seen Sakura so serious, who knew she could be so strict? Her room is really pretty though... nothing like mine at all really._ And Elise was right, Sakura's room had the same amount of cuteness but besides that, her best friend's room was a stark contrast to her own.

Small fairy lights were hung above the doorway and her bedpost, draping down and illuminating the room softly, the doors were white with a polished gold knob adorning each one, and the bed was decorated with plenty of plushies, blankets, and pillows that were all in varying shades of Sakura's hair color, pink. Elise guessed it was safe to say that Sakura's favorite color was pink, but there were other colors around as well, especially red and gold. Elise had to admit though, Sakura's room was really cute, like _seriously cute._

But before Elise could gawk anymore, Sakura hurriedly rushed lugging a huge tin box in her hands that seemed it would burst with every step Sakura took. "I need you to stay still, Elise. I-It might sting a little but you have to bear through it. I'm sorry..."

Elise shook her head, "It's fine! Just a little scrape right?" but she instantly gritted her teeth as Sakura sadly ran a cotton ball soaked in rubbing alcohol over the pulsing wound. Elise sucked in air and gripped the fluffy pink blanket under her while Sakura quickly cleaned the wound. Her face turned bright red trying not to cry, and that's when she realized how huge her 'little scrape' was. At first she thought it was blood that dribbled down her leg that made it look big, but in reality that was the _actual size._ The gushing gash stretched from the bottom of her knee to the midway of her shin and along with the fact that Elise had pretty long legs for someone her size due to her love of horse-back riding, this was immensely painful. Now it made perfect sense as to why everyone was freaking out earlier, if that happened to Sakura or one her family members, she'd freak out too!

"E-Elise?" Sakura bit her lip softly, "You probably need to change into some clean clothes due to the rip on the knee part of your tights. B-But don't worry! I have some extra night clothes for you!"

Elise smiled, she was lucky to have a friend as caring as Sakura who didn't even scold her at all and was even so kind to lend her some clothes that'd she inevitably get blood on from her knee. She shook her head no, "It's fine Sakura! I have some of my own in my duffle bag, but thank you for asking... and my knee as well. I never knew you were so good at it, like ya know, medicine stuff. I'm okay at it, but you're really good!"

Sakura blushed, "O-Oh it's nothing! When you have siblings like me who can't stay still, you get used to it. I-It's nothing, really!" But despite her words, a smile turned up on her small face as Sakura grabbed a wrap around bandage. She draped it around the knee swiftly and firmly, even with shaky frail hands. "Um... I think y-you should be good now. Don't strain your leg and I think the wound would heal in about a few days."

Unable to contain her gratitude, Elise yanked Sakura in for a bear hug who let out a surprised "Eeep!" at the sudden motion.

"Oh thank you, thank you, thank you, Sakura!" Elise squealed, hugging Sakura as hard as she could, "I can't really help myself all too well when I get hurt so it's nice having someone to help!" Sakura giggled softly as she returned the hug sweetly.

"O-Once you get changed, would you like to see Kaden?" Sakura questioned as Elise removed her arms from Sakura to let the girl catch her breath.

Elise cocked her head, "Kaden?"

And as if on cue, or like her brother would say 'Speak of the Devil' or something along the lines of the devil which was all he really thought about in her opinion, a short fluffy orange dog dashed giddily at the speed of light into the room from the hallway and plopped himself down onto the milky carpet with a thud. With a tail peaked with white wagging at helicopter speed he flashed a cheeky grin, "Aarf!"

Elise gushed, "Ahh! He's so cute! It's a he right? Well obviously, but agh! He's just so cute!" She pulled the dog closer into her arms who beamed brightly and enjoyed the countless pats and rubs over his ears.

Sakura giggled, "Oh yes! He's still really young but he loves being groomed, would you like to brush him?"

"Hehe! Is that even a question? Of course!" Elise squealed, "My dog Keaton just _hates_ being groomed! He's a husky but he looks more like a wolf really. If you even so mutter the word 'bath' Keaton runs away as fast as he can! Keaton is probably to grossest dog EVER and the only one he really listens to is Camilla! It's not really fair..."

The pinkette frowned, "Here, I-I'll let you have my room to change. I'll go grab his brush and a few short eats. A-And... um... is it okay if I play with your hair Elise?"

"Hm? Oh yeah sure! I have a ton of it and I really need to brush it through." Elise sighed, running a hand through her frazzled hair due to the fall but it immediately got stuck in a knot and she kept raking her hand down resulting in a yelp from the sharp tug.

"T-Thank you! I was worried to ask but you have a lot of hair and it looks pretty and I'm sure it'd look beautiful when braided. My hair is cut short so I can't really do much with it and Takumi won't let me play with his hair anymore. B-But! I'll let you change, sorry if I was keeping you from changing!" Sakura bowed in her apology, closing the ivory colored door quickly to hide her growing embarrassment.

"H-Huh? Oh it's okay! But, thank _you_! I love having my hair played with actually hehe! Camilla is a bit too busy nowadays and I don't want to burden her." Elise chimed to the girl who nodded with an adorably, innocent, sweet smile. Soon the door was closed and Sakura left Elise to rid herself of the dirty clothes. Elise gazed in silent awe at the room, it really was beautiful, but she figured to manage her time wisely so she wasn't last minute rushing when Sakura came to the door and found her with barely anything on. Pulling the t-shirt over her head and replacing it with a pink cotton night shirt she planned for the afternoon, Elise cautiously removed her leggings to prevent accidentally bumping off the bandage or causing the scrape to bleed all over again before throwing on a pair of black nightwear shorts. Swiping the hair ties with purple bows from her hair effortlessly and sliding them up her wrists, Elise fluffed out her hair but was careful not to get out the knots and such no matter how tempting it was.

She heard a knock to the door, "E-Elise? I'm back, d-do you need more time?" her best friend's voice was proved that she was certainly embarrassed to ask.

"U-Umm..." Elise looked at herself before noticing the mess of clothes on the floor, "O-One minute!" Huh, now she was nervous too, just went to show how similar the two of them are. Frantically picking her clothes off the carpeted floor, folding them, and placing them back in her duffle bag, Elise called Sakura in, "I'm good now, sorry for making you wait, Sakura."

Sakura shook her head, "It's okay, I should've taken my time more." but she handed a wooden brush to Elise and sat herself next to the girl on the carpet, "Here, just call him over and he'll sit in your lap."

Elise happily received the brush, "Kaden!" she called, praying that he'd come because if he didn't that'd be a little embarrassing. But once more, Kaden scurried back into the room and upon noticing the brush Elise held in her hand, his excitement grew. "Hehe! Kaden really is adorable!" Elise giggled, rubbing the perfect spot right behind his ears.

Sakura sat behind Elise as the girl infront of her ran the fluffy brush through Kaden, "I-Is it alright if I sit behind you like this?"

Elise looked over her shoulder and blinked, "Sure! You don't have to ask Saku!"

"O-Okay!" Sakura smiled at both the nickname and Elise's genuity. Slowly just like the sun that was setting behind the window, Sakura rolled the brush through Elise's hair gently to avoid the sharp pull of yanking a knot. It was peaceful, the small braid train and the small conversations they held about school and their favorite things as they occasionally reached out to grab a chip or hard candy.

Elise sighed, "This is nice ya know? I wish I could just stay here like this."

"Yes, it really is nice to be like this. Perhaps we could do this another time!" Sakura asked happily before gasping and holding a hand to her mouth, "Oh I'm sorry! Was it presumptuous of me to ask?"

"Of course not Saku, I actually was thinking the same thing." Elise beamed as she petted the sleeping Kaden on the carpet. Sakura smiled softly completing the large twin tail braids she'd adorned Elise with. Elise really was beautiful now that she looked at her, but a part of her was dying to ask and she hated herself for feeling like that. The question always stung at her thoughts when she was with her amazing best friend. Oh how mean it was! Sakura shivered, trying to push the thought away. Why was she like this?! Elise was so nice to her to come and even hurt herself while coming to see her and now she was being so nosy!

"Sakura?" Elise asked, her voice genuinely worried which even stung at Sakura's heart more.

"I-I... um..."

"Is something wrong Sakura? If there's anything you can always talk to me, I promise to never tell a soul."

"E-E-Elise..."

Elise turned to face her best friend and cocked her head at Sakura's beet red face, "Y-Yeah?" now even she was concerned.

"I... I have something to ask you!" Sakura blurted, she grabbing and tugged at the hem of her shirt nervously, fumbling with the fabric.

"Oh is that it? Hehe! You can ask me anything Saku!" Elise grinned.

Sakura felt her heart yell at herself, oh how horrible she was being to Elise right now!

"Saku?"

"I..."

"Yes?"

"D-Do you like Ryoma?"

"..."

Oh great! Sakura wanted to jump off a cliff or something right now, this was so wrong of her right now! Elise cared for her so much and this was how she reacted! Sakura wanted to cry for being so selfish right then, "I-I'm so sorry Elise! I-I didn't mean to go into your-"

"Yeah..."

"S-Sorry what?"

"Um... it's true, I like Ryoma. There's no point in lying to myself anymore. I'm sorry! It's super messed up of me to like..." her voice lowered to a whisper, "... your brother..."

Sakura blinked, "N-No! I'm the one who's wrong here! I went into your personal matters!"

Elise shook her head, "What?! No! You actually helped me now that I think about it..."

"Elise?"

"I just really needed someone to talk to... and I guess I was too scared to ask you. Thank you for asking me first."

Sakura nodded before giving Elise a gentle hug, "Oh thank goodness, I was worried you'd get mad at me!"

Elise giggled reassuring the pinkette, "Don't worry Saku, there's no way I'd ever be mad at you!"

"T-Thank you Elise..." Sakura squeaked, holding Elise a little tighter in relief before she let go. "Elise... can I say something?"

"Y-Yeah" Elise nodded, bracing herself for her bestfriend's reaction.

The air was tense and quiet as Sakura looked for the right words. Elise really hoped Sakura didn't see how nervous she was while she waited. The sun had gone down mostly and the last few remaining rays of sunlight seeped into the room. Sakura took a deep breath to regain her courage.

"I support you."

"Huh?"

"I-I... I support you having feelings for big brother."

Elise's eyes almost popped out of her head from bewilderment, "W-What?! Why? I thought you would've been freaked out to be honest!"

Sakura shook her head, "It's actually because... Ryoma finds comfort in you. Ryoma is always so tense and hardworking, not even Takumi can him up like the way you do. Ryoma often talks about how nice you are and says that I'm lucky to have a friend like you... and I really am lucky."

"..."

"Elise?"

"Oh Sakura!" Elise gasped as she teared up, "I'm so lucky to have you too!" The braided girl pulled the pinkette into a bear hug.

Sakura giggled and reciprocated by wrapping her arms around Elise just as strongly, "Elise you don't have to say that!" they stayed like that before she released herself and continued, "B-But it's true though! Sometimes Ryoma is really exhausted and whenever you guys go and make some flower crowns, it makes him so happy. Sometimes, I wonder when I last saw big brother this happy. I think... I think big brother is starting to..."

"Saku?"

"I think Ryoma is finally opening up to you, and not in a platonic way. Hinata, Takumi's best friend told him that Ryoma actually blushed when the football team teased him about his flower crown pile last week. Big brother never blushes... the only time he ever has was when Ryoma accidently fell into the deep end of the pool when we were very little and Mother had to save him in front of all his friends." Sakura smiled fondly at Elise.

Elise stood there, her jaw dropped, she wasn't sure whether to chuckle from the small story of little Ryoma, faint from knowing this, or cry in joy. But her mind wandered to other things, "F-Flower pile? Ryoma has a pile of flower crowns?"

Sakura blinked surprised, "B-Big brother hasn't told you?" Elise shook her head, "I... I shouldn't tell you since it is his personal matters, but I support the two of you. Brother keeps all the flower crowns you make for him long after they've wilted. _I... I don't know if he really does like you_ , but I think he will someday, that's what Mother says and she knows everything before it happens."

Elise felt so full of happiness, she didn't know when she last felt this happy. "O-Oh! Speaking of gifts, I actually made some gifts for you guys." Elise scrambled over to her duffle bag awkwardly from her legs being asleep so long but she whipped out a pair of white bows with a golden clip, "I made this for you! I know your hair is a little short but you can put them on other things like binders or as decoration!"

Sakura gasped, "Oh! They're so cute! T-Thank you Elise!"

"No prob Saku! I also got this for Hinoka," Elise beamed in pride, pulling out a long white scarf, "She goes outside a lot and now that winter is coming, she'll need to wear one so she won't get sick. And... this is for Ryoma," Elise blushed, pulling out a stuffed teddy bear.

Sakura blushed just as heavy as Elise, "A- A teddy bear?"

"Y-Yeah...I've always told Ryoma he looks like a giant teddy bear, so I figured I'd get him one when I went to the mall yesterday." Elise stuttered in embarrassment. "B-But I don't know how to give it to him! Agh! This is so embarrassing! Why did I only think of this now!?"

Sakura piped up, "I-If you'd like, I could give it to him before you leave."

Elise shook her head, "That'd be nice, but I gotta man up! I can't just keep avoiding him!" Sakura nodded in agreement setting the presents down beside her. "I also got a tea mug for your mom and a book for your dad. S-Sorry I didn't get anything for Takumi, I didn't know you had another brother."

Sakura squeaked, "Oh no! That's my fault, sorry I didn't tell you."

"It's okay, I just feel a little guilty ya know?" Elise sighed, she glanced at the time and panted, "It's really hot, wanna go grab a midnight glass of water together? You look a little pale too." Sakura nodded as the two went down the stairs to fetch a glass of water in the middle of the hot night. The darkness made their house look a little spooky, but not as much as her own house. Placing their hand on the wall searching for the light switch, Elise noticed the light from the kitchen was on. She blinked, "I guess we don't even really need to turn on the hallway light- Ow!" Elise yelped as she accidentally stubbed her toe on the side of the wall, "Nevermind... could you get the light?"

Sakura giggled, "Okay!"

* * *

 **(A/N)**

 **Yep, that took _forever,_ but I really hoped you guys enjoyed it. I wanted to make a longer chapter for once and I'm pretty glad I did. What I'm planning is to make a few chapters with Elise during the sleep over, it'll move slowly so I'm sorry about it, but next chapter is going to be Elise and Sakura talking with Mikoto about her fortune (Mikoto has prophetic abilities so I want to transfer those over with Mikoto being a a fortune teller as a hobby [like me! ;3]) the chapter after that will most likely be a chapter with Ryoma and Elise hanging out with a few games, cough cough, Just Dance, cough cough. Anyways, THANK YOU FOR ALL THE SUPPORT! Reading reviews always makes my day and you can agree when you're a writer ;3**


	4. Chapter 4

Elise and Sakura stumbled into the kitchen, wary of any random objects they could bump into during the dead of night. The two girls winced at the bright light in the kitchen that practically blinded them once they went in. Rubbing her eyes, Elise looked up to see a fair woman sitting at a short table with a handle-less mug drinking tea. The blonde blinked, she was beautiful, the air around her was so peaceful and almost magical in a way, she had ebony hair, the palest skin, and warm amber eyes. Her cheeks were rosy and her long ebony hair was tied so perfectly, it was if Elise was gazing upon a fairy tale princess who decided to jump right out of her book.

"Hello, I assume you're Elise Anya, correct?" she asked, her voice was like fine silk as she set down her cup without a single clatter.

Elise, taken aback and too much in awe to speak only nodded her head. But the girl suddenly pinched her arm to snap herself back to reality, "Y-Yes. Thank you for having me Mrs. Byakuya today."

"Please, it's nothing. I came downstairs for some tea, would you girls like some?" she hummed softly.

Sakura nodded after checking with Elise, "Thank you Mother" The best friends sat at the table as their cups, identical to the one Mrs. Byakuya had, were filled with hot tea. Sakura yawned and brushed a pink strand of hair from her face before sipping her tea, "Ahh, you just made this didn't you?"

The mother smiled, "Yes, it's one of the best brews I've made in a long time fortunately!"

Elise was still in awe, Sakura's step mother was absolutely gorgeous in so many ways. Her voice was so calming as well, Elise could almost fall asleep listening to her. Bringing the tea up to her lips made Elise even groggier.

"You alright dear? You look a little..."

"Hm?" Elise hazily looked up, "Oh yeah, I'm a little pale from losing the blood in my knee but I'm fine. If you're talking about now, I'm just a little sleepy, this tea you made is really good." Elise wiped the bit of tea that was on her lip. Elise was too tired to speak but she somehow managed to get the words out of her mouth.

"I see... would you like me to read your fortune?" Mrs. Byakuya smiled casually.

Elise almost spat out her tea out of surprise, "Y-You can do that?! Woah that's really cool!" squeaked the blonde as she set down her cup. She heard of people being able to do that but she never really knew it was possible.

"Hehe! Yes, but you need to finish your tea first, I tell fortunes with tea readings. It's a tasteful way of both getting a reading of your fortune and having a good cup of tea." the woman hummed between sips of her tea, "And then perhaps I could read your palms and tarot cards."

Elise nodded excitedly and gulped down her tea almost immediately stifling a giggle from Sakura. Trying not to be rude or startling, Elise steadily pushed the cup over to the side of the table where Mrs. Byakuya sat like how she asked and flipped up six cards from a pile of tarot cards. The woman pulled out a pair of reading glasses and gazed into the cup, she took a deep breath and focused as if trying to distinguish something and glanced at the tarot cards.

Sakura finished her tea as well but brought it to the sink with her mother's to clean the cups. "What's wrong mother? Don't tell me..." her eyes began to water and Elise immediately felt nervous but when she looked over to Sakura's mother, she was surprised to see Mrs. Byakuya smiling with delight and pushing the hair out of her face.

"Mrs. Byakuya?"

"Dear, would you like to know? Well, I suppose you do so I'll tell you." the woman cleared her throat and continued, "Your readings say that a lot of good luck will come in your way, and even better, you'll find yourself falling in love and the person you feel that way will too. But..."

"B-But?!" Elise and Sakura stammered as they listened closely.

"As you fall in love, someone else close doesn't want this to happen. It may be an object, but it's most likely a man you trust. A father? I'm not sure, but someone who is older. Things will then get hectic and... oh my, another person close to both you and the person you love falls for you too I believe... Your reading is foggy but things will go your way depending on who you chose. Conflict will break out soon but during this conflict you will be happy but sad. Conflicting emotions are coming your way Elise."

Sakura and Elise blinked, that was all quite a lot to take in, "T-Thank you for reading my fortune, I'll be careful of my choices."

The woman nodded, "But the best thing to do is not to think with your head but with your heart, these outcomes may be permanent." Elise became dizzy at the word 'permanent', she wasn't sure and she was pretty nervous of the future. "Here, let me see your palms, they say the one who has similar hands to you may..."

"Mom?"

Sakura and Elise looked up to see Takumi rubbing his eyes and looking at everyone tiredly. Mrs. Byakuya looked at his hands intently though, "Takumi dear, would you mind showing me your hands?"

"W-What?! I didn't eat any chips I swear! That was years ago!" Takumi spat, annoyed that she was doing this infront of a guest.

"No no, not like that. I want to see your palms for your fortune." the mother declared.

Takumi hesitatingly showed her his palms and grunted in embarrassment. "O-Oh...Fine... is that all?"

"Oh my..." the woman murmured, a hand to her mouth in surprise.

The rest of the people in the room sputtered, "W-What is it?!"

Suddenly the sound of footsteps down the stairs filled the house and Ryoma gave a booming yawn as he came into the kitchen but quickly stopped when he realized Elise was awake, downstairs, and startled by his thunderous yawn. "Sorry, I wasn't aware everyone was downstairs." Ryoma said as he covered his mouth in shame.

"Ryoma could you show me your palms for a minute?"

"Hm?" Ryoma blinked, "Alright, Mother." presenting his palms as he held them near her eyes so she wouldn't strain her eyes like she always does. His gut fluttered with embarrassment but quickly pushed it aside and hoped Elise didn't think he was improper.

The woman shook her head, "You all have a lot coming to you in the future. But you all must get to bed, it's one in the morning for goodness sake."

Takumi grumbled, "Well I was working on my history project. I'm going back to work." Takumi reached out to grab a cup of water but Elise took one from the counter and gave it to him so he wouldn't have to walk around everyone to get a cup. "... Thanks"

Elise smiled, "No prob!" Everyone started up for the stairs quietly to prevent Kaden from waking up since apparently he was a light sleeper to Sakura. Tip toeing back to their room, Elise pulled out her movie player, "Hey Sakura, do you wanna watch a scary movie?"

"A h-horror film?!" Sakura jittered, "I...I'm not so sure, I'm not really a fan of scary movies, Elise."

Elise cocked her head, "What? Aww... hey we can watch it under the blankets with the stuffed animals if your want."

Sakura took a deep breath, "O-Okay, I think I can do this. Azura always tells me scary stories so maybe I won't be too scared."

"Azura? Who's she? She has a beautiful name." Elise asked as she popped the CD into the player and set it on the bed and put her hair up into a pony tail since it was so hot.

"Azura is just one of our cousins. O-Oh the movie is starting!" Sakura gasped and shivered as the movie played. Sakura covered her ears near the scary parts but it was mostly about a pair of twins in a cursed house full of invisible people trying to kill them as they tried to remove the curse. Even people the twins cared about like their parents came! Sakura shrieked when a monstrous beast came out and tried to slash the twins. "EEEEEK! ELISE!"

"S-Shhh!" Elise shushed Sakura but Elise screamed too. Elise paused the movie to let them catch their breath but suddenly a loud rumbling filled the hallways. "S-Sakura?"

Sakura heard it too, "Y-Yes?" trembled the girl.

"Y-Y-You heard that right..?" Elise squeaked as the rumbling became louder.

Sakura nodded, "Y-Yes!"

Elise felt her teeth chatter, "I... I'm going to go check it out."

"W-What?! No! In the movies that's what always happens and then..." Sakura protested.

But Elise swatted her worries away, "Don't freak out, let's go check it out."

"A-Alright, I'm coming with you." Sakura whispered as the two of them got out from under the covers and looked around. The house was really dark and if they turned on the lights it'd wake everyone up so armed with a phone flashlight, a mini vacuum to suck up any ghosts, a little bit of salt, and silver bracelets, Sakura and Elise trailed the house. With every step they took, the loud rumbling became louder, and louder, and also clearer. And then, it hit the girls like a wet sock to the face, the rumbling- was _snoring._

Elise facepalmed, "Ugh, and I was really excited for a moment there."

"E-Elise?"

"Yeah Saku?"

"No one snores in our house."

"..."

"..."

"S-Should we inspect?" Elise trembled.

"Eeeek! N-no!" Sakura squeaked when she thought she felt something brush her leg but it was only Kaden sleeping. "Shhh, we have to keep quiet."

Elise nodded but whispered, "I'm going to go look for the source alright? You don't have to come if you don't want to. It's literally four a.m."

"I... I'll go with you" Sakura whispered, her voice steady without a trace of nervousness. The girls looked around, perhaps it was just a generator in the garage, but they immediately stopped when Sakura noticed the snoring was from Ryoma's room. "H-Huh?! Ryoma never snores though."

"I'm going in"

"W-What?! Elise don't!" Sakura screamed in a whisper. "Ryoma never snores so something must be wrong!"

"Then that's why we're going in!" Elise puffed and without another word, Elise creaked the door open with her flashlight on dim. The room was noticeably a lot more warmer, in fact it was blisteringly hot and surprisingly cleaner than Elise thought. It was hard to breath in the room and the window was pushed all the way up to let in cool air. Sakura nervously followed and when Elise went to go see if she could push up the window anymore, she turned around to see a sleeping Ryoma. Her face flushed, he looked like a slightly grumpy kitten when he slept to be honest! He looked so at peace and his brows were unfurrowed too, Ryoma looked adorable beyond words. Eyes were softly shut, a jutting and pouting lip, and messy hair that was clumsily tied into a terribl pony tail. But then her eyes wandered and widened when she noticed, he was very much shirtless. Elise felt her entire self grow numb and all the blood rise up to her face in an instant so fast she felt nauseous for a moment. "A-Ah... ummm..." Elise squeaked. He was hot, scratch that, Ryoma was _really hot._ Elise covered her eyes to give him some privacy, but the image of him shirtless was unknowingly ingrained into her mind. Her chest felt tight like it was going to burst any second. Her heart was pounding in her chest like crazy like she'd ran an entire mile without a single stop. Elise shuddered and was at a complete loss of words.

Slowly peeking through, Elise watched him, the slight rise and fall of his chest, his extremely defined torso and built arms that were built from hours of practice and maintaining. Ryoma was definitely more built than Xander without a doubt despite being about an inch or two shorter, but Xander was super tall and Elise had to look up a lot to talk to him which hurt her neck a lot. But going back to Ryoma, she noticed that he flung the blankets off himself in his sleep and his snoring was loud signalling a deep sleep. Without thinking, Elise stepped forward for a better look. Her mouth became dry when she saw how muscular he was, his lower half was covered much to Elise's relief, that'd be so much more embarrassing for both him, her, and Sakura.

When Elise looked around, she saw Sakura close to the door, ready to hold it open so they could bolt out as soon as something happened. Elise mouthed a 'Thanks' to the girl before trying to see what was wrong once more. The sweat marks she had were obvious right now and Elise's palms were extremely balmy and sweaty. Ryoma had a restless face though, it must be because of the heat. After all, whenever she was really sweaty during the night she'd wear only a tanktop and shorts for decency, guys could just sleep in shorts and no shirt which wasn't really fair in her opinion but... at least she got to see more of him. Elise mentally slapped herself but she couldn't help but stare. His abs were defined as hell, his chest was really built, he was lean but not frail at all, and his arms looked like they could lift up twenty of her.

"Takumi, I know you're there." Ryoma raspily spoke. His hand grabbed her wrist and pulled her closer without opening his eyes assuming that Elise was her brother in his half asleep half awake state of mind. Elise squeaked but covered her mouth before Ryoma could hear to muffle out her voice. Her eyes were wide and almost fell out of her head from shock. "You know that you can always stay with me for a while after you have your nightmares. Now sleep, it's best to get as much sleep as you can." His voice was gentle and caring, Elise could've fallen asleep right there since Ryoma was so soft if it weren't for the fact he was half naked. He had a vice grip and yet it didn't hurt at all, in fact, it was actually really cute in a way.

Sakura had eyes just as wide as Elise when Ryoma pulled Elise down and next to him on the mattress. Elise trembled, this was horrifying and to top off the extreme panic she was facing him as he wrapped his arm around Elise thinking she was Takumi. She was sweating and didn't even dare breathe, Elise was as stiff as a log, she was frozen in place from his arm and her utter terror. "Breathe Takumi, it's alright. We can talk about it tomorrow." He cooed gently, running a hand through Elise's hair. She could feel him hesitate, most likely due to the fact her hair and his were two different kinds of textures.

Elise wasn't sure if she wanted him to wake up or not, if he didn't she may have a chance to escape scotch free, but she could also accidentally fall asleep. But if he did wake up it'd be the most embarrassing thing in the world, especially since he was half naked and she was a guest. "Come here, nightmares are only illusions but they are still very scary. Do you want me to get a glass of water?" he asked, still his eyes were closed since he was so used to speaking like that since he also meditated according to Sakura.

Elise panicked, she had to say something, trying to speak in the most 'Takumi' voice she could since she didn't talk to him much to know his voice really well, she tried to sound as grumpy and sad as she could, "N-No"

Ryoma froze and Elise felt herself sweat a billion gallons and a ton of buckets. "Hmn" he grunted and pulled his 'brother' closer into his chest. Elise almost screamed, she was face to face with him and her chest was touching his if it wasn't for her tanktop, she wasn't even wearing a bra since it was so hot and Sakura and her were planning to go to bed after the movie. Would he notice?! Takumi wasn't a girl so he wouldn't have boobs for goodness sake! Elise internally screamed in horror and threw a party at the same time. _AGH! Why are feelings so messed up all the time?!_ Her heart was beating faster than before and Elise thought she'd have a heart attack from how fast and hard her heart was racing. She struggled to breathe and Ryoma's hair tickled at her nose. Thankfully Ryoma stopped snoring since she managed to open the window more earlier but this was NOT helping either.

Elise was going to do it, she had to!

Elise was going to wake him up.

 _Oh no, no no! That's a terrible idea! Nope! I can't! How could I ever talk to him again?!_ Elise panicked. But there was no other choice, Ryoma was bound to accidentally touch her chest and wake up or something! She had to wake him up first! Elise felt her palms drip with sweat and her teeth chatter with fear.

"Ryoma,"

Said man's face furrowed in confusion slightly from her feminine voice, but his grip on her waist as he hugged her didn't fray.

"Ryoma, it's me, Elise."

Ryoma's gray eyes shot open, "AGHHHHHHH!"

"AHHHHHHHHHH!"

"AGHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"SHUT UPPPP!" screamed Takumi from next door.

Ryoma scrambled away so quickly he fell off the bed with an extremely loud crash on his back with the face of horror and Elise almost fell out the window if it weren't for the chair she held onto. Sakura stood there stone frozen with horror as Ryoma hazily stood up in the dark clumsily, half naked, and stricken with the horror of his mistake. "I!" Ryoma stuttered, but tripped on the blanket he threw on the floor during his sleep and fell onto the floor toppling over Elise.

"Owwww..."Elise grimaced and rubbed the back of her head, but she looked up to see Ryoma towering over her and eyes directly in her own. Her purple eyes blinked as she tried to comprehend what the heck just happened but she immediately saw his black eyes that looked at her with the same amount of confusion as her. And yet, they had a certain glow behind them, something she didn't understand, they were like little fires in the night that she wanted to stay near. But as her eyes wandered, her words were caught in her throat when she noticed he was sweating, breathless, and very much half naked.

"Um..."

"I-I'm sorry!" Ryoma shouted, scrambling to get off of her and his hair band slid fell off during the commotion. His heart throbbed in his chest like crazy as he trapped Elise in his arms earlier, _W-What is this?! I... This is wrong, no I can't be like this... but... I want to... why?_ Ryoma held his hand to his chest to catch his breath but also to feel how fast his heart was racing. Ryoma blinked in astonishment, _W-Why do I? Elise is just a... but, I don't want that... wait, what?!_

Elise was about to pass out, this was _TOO_ fast! She didn't even know what was going on, her face was bright red, Ryoma's face was bright red, even Sakura's as she watched this all take place! "R-Ryoma?!"

"I-I'm sorry! I did not mean to do anything like that! Did I do anything indecent?! Oh what have I done?!" Ryoma stuttered, trying to get all the words out at once before he couldn't speak from horror again. He pulled her up, but it was so fast Elise almost fell over.

"I...N-No! Not at all! It's okay! I was just worried since you were overheating, it's nothing! I'm sorry I shouldn't have barged into your room!" Elise squeaked, waving her hands up to tell him it was okay... but it wasn't her heart was thundering in her chest and fluttering, she was dizzy, and suddenly... the room was getting darker than she could think. She felt her body sway.

"E-Elise!" Ryoma panicked as Elise fell forward, holding his forearm to support herself. Her legs were staggering and her blood was running ice cold.

"Elise are you alright?!" Sakura shouted, running over and feeling Elise's head.

The girl staggered and let go of Ryoma's hand out of embarrassment, she opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out and her eye lids became heavy and screamed at her to close them and...

Ryoma grabbed Elise before she could fall out of the window behind her. "E-Elise!" Ryoma shouted, he shook her limp body wildly out of horror. He couldn't speak out of worry and his sweat was suddenly cold on him. Sakura angrily snatched Elise from her frantic brother. _Sakura_ was angry.

"Ryoma!" she shouted, Ryoma stood there frozen at how angry Sakura was, he'd never seen Sakura so angry. Ryoma stood there dumbfounded as Sakura placed Elise down on the bed and check her pulse and forehead. "Don't shake her like that, Ryoma! She passed out! You don't _shake people_ when they pass out!"

Ryoma bit his lip, as much as he didn't want to admit it, Sakura was right and she was angry. Never had he heard Sakura speak in such a tone. But he was wrong, oh so wrong. He fell ontop of the girl and she banged her head too, he grabbed her and threw her into his bed, and held her to him in a hug she probably didn't want! And he was shirtless! If someone did that to Sakura, he would've killed them!

The man fell into a chair and burried his hands in his hair and his face in his elbows. Suddenly Mikoto ran into the room, "What's going on?!" but upon seeing Elise passed out she gasped, "What happened?!"

"Elise-" Sakura began, but Ryoma cut her off.

"No Sakura, let me explain..."

* * *

Mikoto stood there angrily, her foot tapping against the hard floor where Elise banged her head on. "She'll be fine by morning, Ryoma as for you... you better make this up to her and Sakura somehow. That must've been traumatizing for Elise and now Sakura can't even be with her friend during their sleepover. Shame on you. You should know by now. What if this happened to Sakura instead huh? You're lucky your father is out on a business trip." Mikoto cleared her throat, "Ryoma, you're sleeping on the couch tonight. Sakura, I want you to sleep here in Ryoma's room and I'll set Elise over on your bed alright."

Ryoma sat there ashamed of himself and before he could get up Mikoto handed him a shirt, "Please do not walk around the house shirtless mister." He nodded sheepishly and put on the shirt when Sakura turned away. Taking his pillow and a small blanket, Ryoma headed down to the living room couch as Sakura grabbed her own things and moved into his room for the night.

Climbing down the stairs with the anger at himself fueling Ryoma. He was a fool! An idiot! A pervert! He spat those words at himself angrily, he couldn't contain his self hate right then. He never felt so angry at himself before, Elise was so kind and dear to his heart, she tried to help him, she wanted to make sure he wouldn't overheat, she wanted him to be happy!

Ryoma was furious with himself, throwing his pillow and blanket into the couch, Ryoma flung himself onto the couch. He shouldn't let anger control him, it was part of his morality, but he was so frustrated. "Oh god, what have I done?!" _Elise was only seeing if I was in good health! Why couldn't I open my eyes sooner! Why could I not notice! She was terrified, she could barely even breathe! I...!_

Placing his hand toward his heart, Ryoma screamed at himself, but he could still remember the feeling of Elise in his arms... and how small she was in his arms. He wanted to protect her and yet..! Why did he feel like this? Why? The question kept ringing in his head. _Elise... why, my chest feels so tight thinking of her... is it...no it can't be...and yet... I can't lie to myself...I hurt her so badly, I scared her, I may have don't inappropriate things to her in my sleep!... but when I think of her...I feel so happy...why does..?... my heart feels this way because... because... its' true now.._

 _._

 _.._

 _... I've fallen for Elise_

* * *

 **(A/N)**

 **I have a bunch of standard school testing coming up so I wanted to squeeze in one more chapter because I may not write for this month. But I wanted to get things on a roll with the romance! ;) 3**


	5. Chapter 5

**Okay, so since this is a modern AU, Elise and Ryoma play Just Dance, and for you guys who never played or don't know, its a game where people dance to the instructions on screen. It can get quite competitive and is embarrassing at times too. Elise and Ryoma play to Gentleman and if you guys have played that one you know it's hilarious XD But anyways, I recommend watching the video of it online so you actually know how embarrassing it is and what the song is actually like.**

* * *

Elise groaned, her body was heavy and she felt almost as dizzy as before. She could barely get up and looked at the clock, it was 10 o'clock. She blinked, Elise gasped, "Oh no! I only have four hours before I go..." Suddenly her eyes caught sight of the gifts she made for the family and almost screamed when she realized she may not have enough time to give gifts, clean up, pack her stuff up, and have some fun at least! Scrambling out of bed, Elise practically stampeded to the bathroom to brush her teeth like a drunken man, her legs all in the wrong way and her arms reaching out to things to secure herself. She was in a rush, what if wasn't able to give everyone their presents?! Oh no! Oh no! Oh no! The words kept repeating themselves in her head, suddenly she found herself right into someone's chest.

Takumi was strolling down to the stairs to get breakfast before it was all over. When living in a house of four kids, getting food before it was all gone was important. Unlike Sakura, he was terrible at cooking like his older siblings so trying to get at least something in his system was his current priority. But Takumi almost fell back when someone charged into his chest like a linebacker on full power. He didn't even see this person, whoever it was, they moved so fast he could barely notice. Takumi scowled, that hurt really bad.

Elise fell onto her behind from the force and hazily looked up in her dizzy state. Takumi blinked, it was Elise and to be honest, he felt sort of bad. The girl passed out the other day and almost fell out a window twice because Ryoma mistakened her for himself. She did nothing wrong really, and according to Sakura, Elise was neutral too in the campaign for Student Council President. "Here, are you alright?" Takumi asked, helping her up slowly so she wouldn't fall over.

"H-Huh?" Elise stuttered, blinking her eyes rapidly to even out her eyesight and holding Takumi's arm to somewhat support herself. "Oh, thank you. Sorry, I didn't mean to bump into you like that, I'm just a little dizzy as of now."

Takumi scoffed, "I believe you're really dizzy. There's a bathroom downstairs you can brush your teeth in, go downstairs now so I can be sure you won't fall over the ledge."

Elise hazily nodded murmuring a 'thank you' before stumbling down the stairs holding the railing with Takumi close behind her to make sure she didn't fall down the stairs. Luckily there wasn't that many stairs so Takumi guided Elise into the restroom pushing her lightly in the right direction. "A-Ah, thank you Takumi" Elise yawned.

Takumi couldn't help but smile a bit and placed a hand on his waist, "Hmph, no problem." And the goofy lopsided smile she flashed back made him want to smile more. Tying his hair up in a long pony tail like he always does, Takumi waited for her to exit the powder room before gently guiding towards the kitchen and onto a chair. Takumi glanced at Ryoma and to be honest, Ryoma looked like he aged another three years over night. Sakura grumbled at Ryoma which took Takumi back for a moment but he completely understood why she'd be upset, he'd be upset if that happened to his best friend and had to sleep in a different room for only a couple of hours.

Elise rubbed her eyes, "O-Oh, I forgot, I made you all presents!"

Everyone blinked in curiosity, "I-It's fine Elise, you don't have to after what happened." Ryoma protested.

"No... I made them all for you guys, I want to give them okay? You guys took care of me right? Think of it as a thanks." Elise smiled, the dizziness was slowly fading away. Getting up from her chair on her own Elise made her way back to the stairs but Hinoka spoke up.

"Here Elise, I'll help you up the stairs? Don't strain yourself, you've already been through a lot." Hinoka offered and shot an angry glare at Ryoma who sat on the couch internally screaming at himself still.

"Nah, it's fine. I think I can do it on my own." Elise murmured, steadily and carefully Elise went up the stairs and returned with a pile of everything in one arm with the other holding the stair rail as the sound of her slow steps on the stairs filled the house. Hinoka gently prodded her over to the living room where everyone soon gathered. "I...I'll give this one first since I already gave Sakura her gift..." Elise pulled out the white scarf she made for Hinoka that was a stark contrast to her hair.

"I made you a scarf since it's getting cold out and you do sports too. It's a plain white so it's like a nice contrast between your pretty hair and it's easy to clean." Elise beamed with pride, handing the pure white scarf to the red haired beauty who grinned and ran a hand through her fiery hair with a blush.

Then she pulled out the CD from the horror film the night before, "I'm sorry I didn't get you anything Takumi, but I figured to give this to you so it could help make things less scary." Takumi blushed in embarrassment and knew it wouldn't really work but accepted the gift and her thoughtfulness.

"And lastly," Elise giggled, "I got this for you Ryoma." she held out a fluffy stuffed teddy bear to Ryoma who blinked in confusion, "I-It reminded me of you and I always think of you as a big giant teddy bear so I wanted to give you one if you ever felt lonely or needed a hug."

Ryoma felt his face heat up, he wasn't sure how to react, she thought of him as caring and while she got him this, and he loved her too, but this... this was a teddy bear. But he nodded and accepted the gift, holding it next to him but he blinked when he felt something on the back of the stuffed bear. Turning it over while everyone went to go eat breakfast, Ryoma examined it. In red cursive embroidery under the fur was his name writen out, but under it were faint words he could barely even see since they were so small. Ryoma squinted, they were hard to see due to the fineness of the font. "I... hope...y-" Ryoma read softly to himself as he tried to read the words.

Elise walked up from behind him though and sputtered, "A-Ack! Um Ryoma, could you read it another time?"

Ryoma's face darted up to her's, "Yes, sorry if I were an offense... and for last night as well."

Elise sighed a smile, "It's okay, I just overheated and fainted I think, it's nothing all that bad. Anyways, I do have a game we can all play!" she whipped out a console game from behind her back, "Tadaa! It's Just Dance! Have you ever played it before?"

Ryoma shook his head, "Sorry, I don't believe I have."

Elise pouted, "Oh stop saying sorry, it isn't really your fault you know? It wasn't anyone's fault. Come on, let's play!" Elise giggled, grabbing Ryoma over to in front of their TV where their five year old Wii console was that hasn't been touched for years. Elise switched it on happily and slid in the game cd with ease after blowing the dust from the system. Sakura hurried over with Takumi who did not want to be there at all but was forced to come anyways since Hinoka had track and field meets on Sundays at 12 pm. and it was a fifteen minute drive.

"Okay! Do you guys want to chose a song? Oh wait, do you guys even know how to play?!" Elise piped as she slung the controller's band on her wrist. They all shook their head no so Elise beamed, then I'll show you! All you gotta do is do the movements that you're told to do on the bottom of the screen, whoever does them best gets more points and at the end whoever has the most wins the dance! It's pretty easy really... but anyways, who wants to go first with me?"

"..."

Crickets, not a single 'Me!' from anyone, "I suppose I'll go first since I'm sorry about last night." Ryoma sighed.

Elise rolled her eyes, "Ugh don't worry, it's _okay Ryoma._ "

Ryoma felt his chest tighten as his name fell off her small lips. Grabbing a console controller as well, he watched Elise intently as she slowly channeled through the songs. "How about this one? I'm super good at this one and no one even expects it! Hehe! I bet you can't beat me at this one!"

Ryoma's lips curled into a smile, "Hm? I don't back away from challenges, you know that. What is the song?"

Elise's pure smile turned into a mischievous snicker, "Gentleman!"

Ryoma could tell something was definitely wrong with that song that he wasn't going to like. But it was too late as Elise already turned the song on and pushed Ryoma playfully onto his side, his heart fluttered in his chest lightly, this was surely torture but _how could he say no_? Elise giggled once more, "Are you suuuuure? It's a little tricky but it's pretty embarrassing to dance to if you're a guy, well it's actually embarrassing in general hehe!" Her smile and laughter, they were all cutting deep into the wall around his heart and Ryoma could barely think straight. If the song was like she said it was, it would spit upon his dignity. But, he couldn't say no, he just could not watch her smile disappear if he said no. Ryoma was pretty good at dancing in his opinion really since he had to be agile with kendo practice and football, but it was quite embarrassing so this and dancing may be the most embarrassing thing he may have ever done.

"Well...?" Elise asked, she hovered over the start button.

Ryoma felt his blood run hot and cringed, he was going to regret this later, "Yes, let's start."

"Hehe! Okay but you asked for it!" Elise laughed, her voice was as light as air as she hopped into position, "Alright! Ryoma you just need to stand right there and move where the screen tells you to... a little to the left... other way..."

"You mean right?"

"U-Uh, yeah" Elise nodded, _well that's embarrassing, only a little kid would mix right and left up!_ But Elise shook her head out of her thoughts, "Okay, it's starting!"

Ryoma blinked as a man showed up on the screen, the music sounded rather bizarre in his opinion but his face reddened when he saw the dance moves. His eyes darted to Elise next to him who laughed and smiled as she danced, despite how utterly shameless the song was. "Come on Ryoma! I thought you never backed away from a challenge?"

Ryoma cleared his throat, "I-I never have, prepare to lose!" Quickly following the moves, Ryoma felt himself get lost in the music rather quickly and watched Elise pant next to him. Ryoma felt his stomach flop at certain moves especially the hip thrust and the terrible part where he had to slap his behind which made his face burn. And when the players had to present their behind for part of it, Ryoma felt all eyes fall on him.

Takumi clamped his hand over his mouth to keep from laughing, oh this was just too good to not film. Sneakily filming it and sending it to Hinoka on his phone, Takumi felt his eyes water from trying not to laugh. But it was futile because Takumi howled in laughter when Ryoma had to slap his arse quite a few times which he also caught on camera. Sakura next to him on the sofa was giggling like she was drowning in laughing gas at the dentist that one time after eating too many dango. Sakura's face was red just by watching them and her laughter filled the room too just like Takumi.

"Ahehee!" Sakura laughed, it was sort of creepy, the one that she did when she couldn't hold back her chuckles any longer. She grabbed the side of the sofa for support, "Aahaha! I'm sorry, hahaha!"

But when the song ended, Elise flopped back on the carpet out of exhaustion, "Hah... I won! Ha! I did it! You're really good though, I never expected it."

Ryoma's face was still red from the embarrassment even after the song was over, "Y-Yes, but I never expected you, Elise, to be so good at a song so inappropriate." Ryoma jested with a tired smile, he was worn out too, he didn't think the dance was that difficult but in the end it left him breathless.

Elise laughed, "Hehe! A lot of people think that way too huh?" But her eyes wandered, Ryoma's hair was down and the shirt he wore was thin so it stuck to his chest from the sweat. She blinked as the shirt sunk into him, Ryoma was a lot more defined and muscular than she remembered, "...Eye candy..." Elise whispered breathily without even knowing it.

"Sorry, what?" Ryoma hummed, tying his hair back into a ponytail though it was bound to either snap the hairband or fall out.

Sakura jumped in, filling in for Elise as she caught her breath, "Ahaha! Nothing! H-Hey why don't we play another one with all of us?"

Elise mouthed to Sakura before getting up, "Thank you so much, oh my god" Wiping her forehead from the sweat that accumulated, she agreed, "Yeah! I actually know the perfect one actually! Get over here Takumi! We can't play without you ya know?"

Takumi hesitated, "No way, I am not doing any of that."

"Oh come on! It's fun too!" Elise panted, dragging Takumi over by the arm "Let's play! I'm sure you'll enjoy it!"

"H-Hey! I never said yes!" protested the boy but everyone hurried into place and the song started. Takumi blinked, he knew this song, it was a classic that Hinata used to listen to when Hinata had his little 80's music phase. What was it? Something M C A? Oh yes, YMCA, that song. Elise played at the shirtless man from the UK, Takumi the bearded man, Ryoma was the man in the sombrero, and Sakura was on the edge as the athlete with the football helmet. He watched as the characters came alive on the screen, prompting them to follow and watching everyone dance with a smile made him feel awkward, alone in a sense.

Takumi blinked when he felt a nudge, "Come on Takumi! Dance!" Elise smiled, following the moves by heart and danced without even glancing at the screen. She was practically sandwiched between him and Ryoma, it confused Takumi as to why and how she was enjoying this but everyone laughing and smiling as they danced slowly edged him into dancing. Not ready to fail just yet, Takumi joined in, he wasn't sure what he was doing or how terrible it was but it surprised him as everyone watched him with wide eyes.

"T-Takumi! You're winning?!" Sakura squeaked, trying her best not to lose.

Takumi blinked, _What?_ his eyes went up to the leaderboard and there he was, he was first. Everyone else was one or two stars below him, even though he started later compared to everyone else. Trying harder, Takumi watched himself go even higher and higher, this was unbelievable, it really shook him. And when the song finally ended, Takumi who was filled to the brim with adrenaline beamed, "I won! I won! Did you see it?!"

Elise smiled, "Yeah! And you were really good for a beginner too! I can't believe it, you're super good too!" she fell into last place though, she was so drained from pouring all her energy into trying to beat Ryoma earlier she felt like a ragdoll with the last one. Sakura came in third and even tried to come in last so Elise wouldn't feel bad but Elise wouldn't let that happen, she wanted Sakura to at least have fun instead of worrying for her self-esteem. Ryoma came in second and looked like he was totally fine despite being drenched with sweat that surprisingly did not smell bad.

Suddenly, Elise's eyes fell upon the clock above the oven from the kitchen behind them, reading 1:56 Elise gasped, "No! I have to go..."

Everyone's face fell and the room became quiet, including Takumi which he didn't expect of himself, taking out the CD and placing it back into the box and into her duffle bag, Elise sniffled. She had such a good time and was so happy, she didn't want to go home at all, "I... I'm sorry if I was a bother, but thank you for having me... Ouf!" Elise gasped as Sakura hugged her tightly with Kaden at her heels wagging his tail.

"Oh I'm so happy you came over, I w-wish you stay forever. Come back over again please? I had s-so much fun!" Sakura teared up, hugging Elise like there was no tomorrow.

Mrs. Bakuya came out too, placing her tea cup down she smiled, "It was a pleasure having you over Elise, come back anytime. Our doors are always open."

Elise nodded and smiled, she suddenly rushed the siblings, pulling them in for a group hug, "Oh thank you guys so much! I don't remember the last time I was so happy!"

Ryoma felt his face soften and patted Elise's head, "It was nothing, and I am deeply sorry for-"

"Shhh, it's okay." Elise shushed him, falling into the hug silently and warmly. Takumi felt his face blush, he wasn't one for hugs but this was sorta nice. Elise solemnly let go, "But anyways, thank you guys, I'll see you tomorrow, Saku!" Slinging her duffle bag over her shoulder, Elise stepped outside and pushed her bike home with her. She waved as she walked out of view to the bright family who had her over that weekend, feeling the sun fall on her face, Elise was ready to go home.

It took a while, the bike was heavier than Elise remembered, but she got home soundly and luckily for her, the wound on her leg healed mostly and wasn't able to be seen from her tights. Walking into the front door of her house, Elise smiled as Camilla hugged the small girl, "Elise, how are you? I missed you! And so did Leo."

"Shut up Camilla!" Leo hissed from up the stairs.

The sisters laughed, Camilla placed the duffle bag on the couch, "Come in, let's get you some food."

* * *

 **(A/N)**

 **Yeah, sorry this was a pretty bad quality chapter and I was rather done from all the testing and finals, but I hope it was okay! Also, if you guys have any ideas for future chapters that'd be really nice since I'm all out of them -_-**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey, I have a REALLY IMPORTANT announcement at the end of this chapter so please read the Author's Note at the end!**

* * *

Elise quickly tied her hair into a ponytail instead of her usual pig tails, it was blistering hot despite being so late into September, she really needed to go to the mall today to see if she could find a couple of things for her costume for Halloween. What? No one said that Halloween is only for kids! Elise hummed and trotted down the stairs, "Big sis! Can you go drop me off by the mall really quick?"

Camilla looked up from her paperwork, "Dear, I'm way too busy right now, could you ask Xander?"

Elise furrowed her brow, "But! Xander won't take me! He says Halloween is for little kids, and it is so not!" She watched her sister scribble her signature on countless papers, it was probably her getting ready for college and seeing some stuff. Elise frowned though, Camilla was practically drowning in work, she got a job at the day care a while back and now she's already the top of her ranks so she's constantly at the day care, juggling her school work, and sorting out her college plans.

"Elise I'm very sorry dear, but could you ask Sakura to go with you? Or ask her mom at least?" Camilla sighed, grabbing another pen after the other refused to work after only seventeen papers.

Elise whined, "I can't! That'd just be sort of rude of me right? I know you're really busy, but please Camilla!"

"Elise, don't get on my nerves okay? I know this is important to you but I'm also really busy." the woman puffed without taking her eyes off the papers spread out in front of her even for a second.

Elise frowned, "Alright, I'll just go ride my bike then. Wait, do you know if Leo fixed it?"

Camilla tossed a lock of hair over her shoulder, "Elise dear, Leo is busy too, he hasn't had time."

"Fine... I guess I'll just walk..." Elise mumbled, she never walked to the mall, nor has she ever gone alone. The girl was afraid, but of course she wouldn't let it show. Infact, Elise didn't have a clue as to how to even walk to the mall since it was so long since she went last. But she walked out the door anyways with her wallet with the money she received on Easter tucked into her pocket. The more she walked, the more she noticed where she was going.

But much to her displeasure, she was quickly spotted by a couple of boys. Elise sighed, they were definitely from a group of football kids who played out of school, but certainly not the school's team, and they probably just finished a game. From the looks of it, they probably won. Hoping not to get caught up with them, Elise hurried off but they were quick to see her. The blonde bit her lip and started to break out into a sprint.

"Hey! Look! Is that ELISE?!" shouted a boy, his voice mocking.

"What?" Elise could feel all eyes fall on her as she picked up her pace. "The kid who's always chasing after Ryoma?"

"She looks like a twat."

"Isn't she though?"

"Wait, she's a freshman right?"

"Wowwww... some little kid fell for a senior, that's stupid."

"Woah, woah, _woah,_ SHE LIKES HIM?!"

Elise ran, her eyes teeming with tears unable to bear the words they said. They were only messing with her, yeah she knew that but it hurt her to be publicly laughed at and called a 'twat'. She was always an easy crier, it was childish and she was. But now they were gossiping about her too?! The girl could hear people laughing and ridiculing her from where she stood before, but Elise didn't turn around, but instead fleeing the situation as soon as she could.

"That's so mean of them... sniff... jerks!" Elise sniveled, rubbing her eyes from tears before she could be seen. But upon looking around, she was clearly lost and oh great, her phone was at home. "What?! No! Oh... what am I going to do? I don't even know where I am..." Taking a deep breath to regain her composure, the girl looked around to see if she could recognize anything or anyone who could at least help her. The houses were grouped tightly together so she was around a townhouse complex, but not a single person was to be seen. It was a quaint neighborhood, the kind where elderly people would go live when large houses were too much work for them to manage. Though it had an air of calmness, Elise panicked like a fish out of water.

"Elise?"

Said girl turned around in hope of help to see Ryoma, "Ryoma?!" Elise sputtered, "What are you doing here?"

"I should be asking you the same," the boy responded with a football helmet in hand, "I just finished a football game and was walking home. You live pretty far from here though, what are you doing here Elise?"

Elise stuttered, she totally couldn't say she was lost, she'd look so dumb and it was true. "I... er..."

"Hm?" Ryoma raised a curious brow as he pushed the strands of hair from his face to see the blonde better.

"I was just heading to the mall!" Elise smiled, _It's not a lie, but it's not really the truth..._

Ryoma crossed his arms, "Elise, the mall is in the total opposite direction. And why are you walking to there? You could get kidnapped! Come on, I'll go with you. I'd rather you not get lost again."

"W-What?! I'm not lost!" Elise stammered and placed her hands on her hips, but the boy in front of her was completely right.

"Oh? So it wasn't you who was talking to yourself earlier?"

Elise sighed, "You caught me... But you know you don't have to. It's not all that dangerous! You know, I _can_ take care of myself. I'm not a little kid!"

The senior huffed, "Well, you are going alone Elise. That itself is rather risky, and you're walking there. I'm going with you to make sure." Before Elise could protest, Ryoma continued, "First I'm going to go home to set down my things. You're coming along too, it's around this time of day that students could get kidnapped."

"You know, you really sort of sound like my big brother hehe!" Elise laughed as the two of them started walking to Ryoma's house.

Ryoma blinked, "You have an older brother? Speaking of which, you've never told me about your family."

"Oh?" Elise nervously laughed, _CRAP, I forgot that if Ryoma doesn't know about me being Xander's little sis! If he does, he'll definitely stop talking to me!_ The girl's palms began to sweat, "Haha! Oh yeah, I have an older brother!"

"Really? What's his name? I probably know him since I am on the Student Council." Ryoma smiled warmly with soft coal colored eyes, turning to face Elise, unaware of her internal screaming.

"Um..." Elise panicked, Ryoma's watched her patiently for an answer. His smile was a rare sight but it everytime she looked at it, Elise felt like her heart was about to burst. Her words were caught up in her throat, "Uhhh, Antonio!"

 _OH MY GOD WHY DID I SAY THAT!? AND OF ALL NAMES, ANTONIO?! AUGHHH!_

 _"_ Antonio...?" Ryoma blinked, "We don't have an Antonio at our school. Does he go to private school?"

"Er, yeah! He goes to private school! It's a boarding one so he's usually not at home." Elise lied with a cracking smile, _Ahhh! I guess I'll just need to go with it, but seriously brain, ANTONIO?! Xander doesn't even look like an Antonio! Bleghh... He looks like he could be a Marx or something like that. Wait, what am I even thinking?_

"Oh, we're here, come in if you'd like." Ryoma hummed, gesturing to the brick house as he opened the front door to put down his things. "Mother, I'm taking Elise out to the mall alright?"

"WHAT?!" Hinoka screeched from upstairs and hurried down the stairs in her track uniform to see if what she was hearing was really true, "Ryoma, how and where did you find Elise?! Did you even ask her if it was okay? I'm pretty sure she'd like to go with Sakura."

Elise chuckled, filling in for Ryoma "Heh, I sorta got lost while I was walking to the mall so Ryoma decided to go with me so I wouldn't get lost or kidnapped or something like that."

"Oh... Well Sakura is in the kitchen doing homework if you want to talk to her while Ryoma gets ready." Hinoka smiled, Elise beamed when she noticed Hinoka wearing the scarf she made earlier for the redhead.

" 'Kay, thanks!" Elise bounced and walked into the kitchen to see Sakura busily typing up a lab report about cells. "Hey Saku!"

Sakura's eyes shot up, "E-Elise?! What are you doing here?"

"Oh well, it's a lot to explain. But anyways, Ryoma doesn't know that I'm Xander's sister right?"

Sakura blinked but nodded from being surprised at her sudden question , "Yeah, he still thinks you're an only child. Why are you asking? O-Oh! Should I not say anything about that just in case?"

"Yeah, and I accidentally spilt some of the beans about a brother," Sakura gasped, but Elise continued, "Don't freak out though, I managed to say I have a brother buuuuuut he's named Antonio."

"An-to-nio?" Sakura whispered, sounding out each syllable "Why the name Antonio?"

"Agh! I know! It's terrible but it's the first name I thought of!" Elise groaned, slumping into a chair next to Sakura.

The pinkette offered her blond best friend a cookie that she had on a plate next to her computer as she worked, to which Elise happily took, "D-Don't worry Elise! I'm sure it'll be okay. Anyways, why are you going to mall? I'm sorry I can't go, I haven't finished my biology report.

"Oh yeah, Hayato was your partner right? He's just all talk ya know? I'm sorry we weren't able to pair up together." Elise frowned, Hayato was pretty clueless when it came to this sort of stuff and dumped all the work on Sakura even though he boasted that he could do anything. The fact that he was such a jerk to her precious best friend angered the girl, "Saku do you want me to talk to him?" Elise asked as she took another cookie from the plate that Sakura offered

Sakura's eyes widened and she waved up her hands in protest, "H-Hah?! N-No, it's okay! And plus, the teacher paired us up right? It's not your fault!"

"Okay, but if you need help, you can always call alright? Last time you stayed up until 3 in the morning right? You got really sick after that too. I'd rather that happen again Saku." Elise pouted at her best friend's reluctance.

"O-Okay...But you better get going, I heard the mall is closing early today since tomorrow is Memorial Day."

"Oh yeah! I forgot about that! Thanks Saku!" Elise thanked before jumping up from her chair and running over to see Ryoma by the front door.

Ryoma wore a clean red t-shirt with his hair up just like her, and despite being outside and going against a team of players in football, he didn't look like he just did at all. "Ready to go?" his sultry voice questioned.

"Yeah!" Elise grinned, her violet eyes staring back into his ebony own. "Come on! I know you can walk faster than that!" Elise giggled as she skipped in front of him.

Ryoma smiled, just watching her made his heart feel light, "Alright, alright, I'll walk faster." sighed the man as he caught up to Elise as she bounced up and down in glee across the sidewalk. Her smile was infectious, wide, and above all, too adorable for him to avoid no matter how hard he tried. Walking next to Elise, Ryoma couldn't help but smile in her presence, she was a little ball of sunshine right next to him. The same ball of happiness that he inevitably fell in love with. The crisp crimson autumn leaves falling, Elise seemed to blend in really. Her bright smile along all the brightly colored leaves that were his favorite color, it made Elise undeniably adorable in a way. In a way that Ryoma couldn't take his eyes off her, gold and fiery orange leaves drifting down, it was if Elise was a part of the landscape. His heart ached lightly in his chest, _Perhaps... perhaps I just care for her too much? Yet I'm being overprotective, even more than I do with Sakura when I walk her places. With Sakura... I make sure to keep her in my sight, but with Elise, she's always in my sight since I can't not look in a direction without her. Is this what falling for someone is like? How much do I really adore Elise then?_

"RYOOOOOOMAAAAA?" Elise pouted as yodeled his name and waved her hand in front of his eyes that stared out into the blue. The girl had stopped at a cross light and waited for Ryoma but even when he did catch up with her, Ryoma was too lost in thought to notice which shocked him since it was odd of him to do so. Elise poked his nose "Boop! Gotcha! Hey, you in there? Helloooo? Earth to Ryoma!" Taking another glance back at the bustling road she whined when she noticed the lights turn green and their chance to cross was over until they waited some more, "Ryoma! Heeeeeyyy!" Sighing, Elise shimmied over next to him before hip bumping him lightly to no avail.

"Oh come on! Fine, you asked for it! Alright...HIYAH!" Elise shouted before backing up and charging straight into Ryoma's full force.

"Hm? What are you doi- AAH! W-What was that for?" Ryoma blinked after being tackled out of his daze.

Looking up from Ryoma's chest that she launched herself into, Elise grumbled, "I didn't move you one bit did I? Awww..."

"W-What? Oh, no not really. But, is everything alright? I'm sorry that I dazed off for a moment." Ryoma apologized, patting the girl's head who beamed a bright smile at him. Ryoma could feel his insides flutter in the oddest way, like he was nervous.

"Yeah, you wouldn't respond to when I called you... soooooo, I decided to tackle you! Hehehe! It worked, right?" Elise giggled as Ryoma patted her head once more and smiled the smile that Elise found was her favorite. Her words were a mixed up jumble of sounds after that, "Hey, um... uh... we gotta get going right? Hahaha yeah! Um let's get going huh? Hahaha!" Elise laughed nervously but screamed at herself in her head, _Oh come on, seriously Elise?! I thought you could do better than that. Wow, now I look like I dingdumb_

Ryoma watched the busy road and when the white light of the man showed, signalling the two of them to cross, Ryoma held her hand gently, "Come now Elise, we wouldn't want to miss the chance this time." Elise felt her face flush bright red, she was holding hands with him and could've sworn it was a gift from the gods for not taking a bite of Leo's ice cream cone when Leo wasn't looking and they went to the boardwalk that summer. Racing across the street, Elise felt her face form the biggest smile she had in a long time. Her eyes fell on his back and the way his hair swayed behind him as the two of them dashed over the road. He was muscular and from that split second of being in his arms and laying in his chest, Elise knew he gave awesome hugs which made her heart flutter a bit. She could barely breath from her silent joy, but her breath for sure stopped when the two of them were in the midst of the street, his fingers intertwined with hers. Elise could feel her heart flop into her throat as her face became redder than she thought was even possible. Blinking, she noticed, the tips of Ryoma's ears were bright red.

Everything practically went in slow motion, Elise's heart beat ran fast and thudded against her chest, and just the feeling of Ryoma's large warm hands intertwined with her tiny pale ones overwhelmed Elise. A day dream come true really, Elise felt herself slow down slightly to make this last longer, to savor the moment, to remember the feeling of his fingers interlaced with her own. The girl could've cried in joy right there and then, but her heart was flying so much in her chest she could barely believe if this was really well... real.

Her eyes fell to the sight of their bonded hands and smiled so radiant, she rivaled the dawn. Because it was then Elise realized,

That Elise wasn't in love with just Ryoma's looks

Or his coolness

Or his brains

But rather,

Elise had fallen in love with the best part about him

.

.

His kindness

And infact, Elise loved every part of Ryoma as she fell all over in love again as the two of them hurried across the street, hand in hand.

* * *

 **(A/N)**

 **IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT:**

 **Yeah, I'm sorry that this chapter is a little short but I'm preparing for more finals and a bunch of end of year activities like going to Hershey Park. I'll try to update more but _MOST IMPORTANTLY,_ I'm also debating on whether to change the title since someone else has posted another story that you may or may not know with the word 'Winning' as part of the beginning and title if you look up some Ryoma fics a little after I made mine. I just feel really uncomfortable with it and rather than asking them to change it even though I posted 'Winning Titles' first, I'd feel more comfortable changing the title of 'Winning Titles' since I don't want to start a fight. So if you do notice a different title sometime sooner or later, please take note of it. Yes, the summary will remain the same along with the profile picture if you were wondering but only the title will change if I so feel like it. **

**But also, I have NO clue on what to rename the story though. So if you could, please write in any recommendations for the new title that you may have. Feel free to review or PM me! Because I'm really stuck here and don't really have a clue on what to do. Though it would be really relieving and nice to have the other person to change their title, please don't spam them or try to get them to change their title. I would like to ask them to change the title, but I'd rather avoid any conflict since this person may love their title just like how I love the title 'Winning Titles' (Wow I used the word 'title' a lot here) And if you do use the Fanfiction app, you'll see that my story and the other person's will be side by side as if the same person created it. I don't want it to seem like we're the same person since they deserve credit for their story and so do I. **

**I know this may be really petty and you all probably thought when you saw how long the scroll bar was that this was going to be a long chapter so I'm sorry about it but PLEASE send in recommendations of a new title. And if you really do like the title, 'Winning Titles' since later on in the story, that winning the titles of being the class rep but also the lover of someone is really important, please say that too! Because I really do love this fic's title a lot and I don't want to give it up. And maybe I'll just PM the author about it too and see if it's okay. But if you've come here this far, thank you so much for reading! It's probably really annoying since you thought there was going to be more of this chapter, but thank you so much for taking the time to read this since I've been stressing out over this a lot to the point I can barely concentrate on anything else.**


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